Beth Sholom Congregation and Talmud Torah

{{Short description|Modern Orthodox synagogue in Potomac, Maryland, US}}

{{For|similarly named synagogues|Beth Shalom (disambiguation){{!}}Beth Shalom}}

{{Infobox religious building

| building_name = Beth Sholom Congregation and Talmud Torah

| image = Beth Shalom.jpg

| image_upright = 1.4

| alt =

| caption = Beth Sholom Synagogue

| map_type = USA Maryland

| map_size = 250

| map_relief = 1

| map_caption = Location within Maryland

| location = Seven Locks Road, Potomac, Maryland

| country = United States

| coordinates = {{coord|39.051111|-77.163333|region:US-MD_type:landmark|format=dms|display=inline,title}}

| religious_affiliation = Modern Orthodox Judaism

| rite = Ashkenazi and Sephardi

| consecration_year =

| status = Synagogue

| functional_status = Active

| heritage_designation =

| leadership = Rabbi Nissan Antine

| website = {{URL|bethsholom.org/}}

| architect =

| architecture_type =

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| established = 1908 {{small|(as a congregation)}}

| general_contractor =

| groundbreaking = 1994

| year_completed = {{ubl|1938 {{small|(Pethworth)}}|1954 {{small|(Shepherd Park)}}|{{nowrap|1994 & 1999 {{small|(Potomac)}}}}}}

| construction_cost =

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}}

Beth Sholom Congregation and Talmud Torah (abbreviated as BSCTT) is a Modern Orthodox synagogue on Seven Locks Road in Potomac, Maryland, in the United States.{{cite web |url=https://bethsholom.org/content/about-us |title=About Us |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161118040743/https://bethsholom.org/content/about-us |archive-date=2016-11-18 |work=Beth Sholom Congregation |date=n.d. |access-date=November 17, 2016 }}{{self-published-inline|date=December 2023}} The largest Orthodox synagogue in the Washington metropolitan area,{{cite news |author=Rathner, Janet Lubman |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-19534346.html |title=A Neighborhood Built Around Religious Ritual; Border Helps Potomac Jews Observe Sabbath |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=October 4, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714224305/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-19534346.html |access-date= |archive-date=14 July 2014 |via=highbeam.com }} it is led by Rabbi Nissan Antine.{{cite web |url=https://bethsholom.org/content/our-clergy |title=Our Clergy |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161118040704/https://bethsholom.org/content/our-clergy |archive-date=2016-11-18 |work=Beth Sholom Congregation |date=n.d. |access-date=November 17, 2016 }}{{self-published-inline|date=December 2023}}

Religious services and programs

Beth Sholom Congregation holds morning and evening tefillah services, Shabbat services, High Holidays services, and Shalosh Regalim services."[https://bethsholom.org/content/services Services] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161118041256/https://bethsholom.org/content/services |date=2016-11-18 }}". Beth Sholom Congregation. Retrieved November 17, 2016."[https://bethsholom.org/content/high-holidays-0 High Holidays] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161118040252/https://bethsholom.org/content/high-holidays-0 |date=2016-11-18 }}". Beth Sholom Congregation. Retrieved November 17, 2016.

Beth Sholom Congregation hosts adult education classes and study groups."[https://bethsholom.org/content/adults/ For Adults] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161118100628/https://bethsholom.org/content/adults/ |date=2016-11-18 }}". Beth Sholom Congregation. Retrieved November 17, 2016. The congregation has a men's club, a sisterhood, and a social action committee."[https://bethsholom.org/content/clubs-committees Clubs & Committees] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161118041733/https://bethsholom.org/content/clubs-committees |date=2016-11-18 }}". Beth Sholom Congregation. Retrieved November 17, 2016. Beth Sholom hosts classes for school-age children and teenagers as well."[https://bethsholom.org/content/education Education] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161118100940/https://bethsholom.org/content/education |date=2016-11-18 }}". Beth Sholom Congregation. Retrieved November 17, 2016. while Beth Sholom Early Childhood Center has classes for younger children."[http://www.bethsholomecc.com/programs Our Core Programs]". Beth Sholom Early Childhood Center. Beth Sholom Congregation. Retrieved November 17, 2016.

Leadership

Antine became Beth Sholom's assistant in 2006Levin, Adam; Schilit, Amy. "[https://www.proquest.com/docview/220911385/ Clergy take posts in Greater Washington]". Washington Jewish Week. September 14, 2006. p. 27–30. and was promoted to senior rabbi in July 2013, replacing Joel Tessler.Pollak, Suzanne. "[https://www.proquest.com/docview/1021163897/ Beth Sholom to honor its senior rabbi in waiting]". Washington Jewish Week. April 26, 2012. p. 8.

Maharat Hadas Fruchter served as the assistant spiritual leader of Beth Sholom Congregation from 2016Holzel, David. "[https://www.proquest.com/docview/1776309991/ Just don't call her rabbi: D.C. soon to get 2nd 'maharat']". Washington Jewish Week. March 10, 2016. p. 1, 25. through 2019.{{cite news |last=Zighelboim|first=Selah Maya |date=August 8, 2018|title=Rabbanit to Start Orthodox Synagogue in Philadelphia|url=https://www.jewishexponent.com/2018/08/08/rabbanit-to-start-orthodox-synagogue-in-philadelphia/ |work=Jewish Exponent|location=Philadelphia|access-date=August 12, 2019}}

History

=Origins=

The congregation was founded in 1908 as Voliner Anshe Sfard. It initially worshiped in a congregant's house, but soon purchased a store and remodeled it as a synagogue building, with separate men and women sections. Within just a few years of its creation, the congregation had bought its own cemetery.

The Voliner Anshe Sfard Congregation joined with the Har Zion Congregation"[https://www.proquest.com/docview/151116245/ New Synagogue's Stone to Be Laid]". The Washington Post. January 21, 1938. p. X9. in 1936 under the name Beth Sholom Congregation and Talmud Torah, complete with its own Hebrew school.

Two years later, the combined congregation spent $100,000 on a new building."[https://www.proquest.com/docview/150975628/ Beth Sholom's New Home to Be Dedicated: 4,000 Will Join Today in Colorful Ceremonies at Synagogue]. The Washington Post. August 14, 1938. p. M10. The new building, located at Eighth and Shepherd streets in Petworth, Washington, D.C., was dedicated on August 14, 1938,"[https://www.proquest.com/docview/151059936/ 800 Attend 3-Hour Dedication For New Beth Sholom Temple: Solomon Feldman, Congregation President, Delivers Welcoming Address]". The Washington Post. August 15, 1938. p. 13. and served the community for 18 years.

=Shepherd Park=

The congregation sold the Eighth and Shepherd building to the Allegheny Conference Association of Seventh-day Adventists and moved out of the building on December 24, 1954."[https://www.proquest.com/docview/148717481/ Beth Sholom Moves]". The Washington Post. December 28, 1956. p. A8. The congregation temporarily moved to a former bank building at Alaska and Georgia avenues in Shepherd Park, and religious classes were temporarily held at Sixteenth Street and Fort Stevens Drive NW in Brightwood, while it built a new building at Thirteenth Street and Eastern Avenue NW in Shepherd Park. Construction of the new building on Eastern Avenue cost $900,000."[https://www.proquest.com/docview/148888552/ Cornerstone Laid for Beth Sholom]". The Washington Post. May 20, 1957. p. A15.

The congregation held its first religious services in the new building on September 14, 1954."[https://www.proquest.com/docview/148903140/ 2 Synagogue Dedications Set]". The Washington Post. September 13, 1957. p. D2. The new building had seating for 2,000 worshippers. At one point, the Hebrew school had more than 400 students.

=Potomac=

By 1975, many of the members of the congregation had moved to Montgomery County, Maryland, and only one-fifth of the seats in the sanctuary were filled for Shabbat services.Johnson, Janis. "[https://www.proquest.com/docview/146725656/ D.C. Synagogues Survive by Using Branch Facilities: Synagogues Survive with Branch Units]". The Washington Post. July 25, 1977. p. A1. The congregation's leadership decided to build a chapel and a religious school on Seven Locks Road in Potomac.Fingerhut, Eric. [https://web.archive.org/web/20140714221702/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-1447714791.html "Shul hits century mark"], Washington Jewish Week, February 28, 2008. It was considered a branch synagogue. The new location in Potomac worked out; the congregation's membership increased by ten percent, and the religious school's enrollment increased ten-fold.

In the late 1980s, Beth Sholom was principally responsible for the construction of a two-mile-long eruv in Potomac that made it permissible for observant Orthodox Jews to carry and push objects within the boundaries area on Shabbat, leading to the growth of the Orthodox population in the area.

In order to accommodate its large community, the congregation constructed a new building on the Potomac site in 1994.Braun-Kenigsberg, Lisa. "[https://www.proquest.com/docview/140879575/ Common Ground in an Uncommon Place: Middle-Class Orthodox Jews, Attracted by Synagogue, Are Flocking to Potomac]." The Washington Post. October 23, 1993. p. B6. In 1999, the second phase of the building was completed.

In 2005, the synagogue became the first Orthodox congregation in Washington to elect a woman as president of the congregation.{{cite news |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-836921401.html |title=Beth Sholom breaks ground; First local Orthodox shul to elect woman president |work=Washington Jewish Week |date=April 7, 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714223738/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-836921401.html |access-date= |archive-date=14 July 2014 |via=highbeam.com }} As of 2012, the congregation numbered more than four-hundred families.